Bray nets seven goals in 17-6 win over Stevens

Senior Maddie Bray controls possession in a game against Catholic last season. Photo courtesy of Rowan Athletics.

It’s unsurprising that senior Maddie Bray scored a goal, even the first one of the game.

What is surprising is Bray not realizing she finished with seven goals.

“Honestly I don’t really think about my stats when I’m playing,” Bray said. “At the end of the game I didn’t even realize that I had seven goals. It felt good, I wouldn’t be able to do anything that I do or accomplish without my team.”

Head coach Lindsay Delaney didn’t realize either.

“I had no idea she scored seven goals.” Delaney said. “ I was actually really mad at Maddie at halftime thinking she wasn’t performing well enough, like over-shooting a little bit. She had 13 shots, she went 7-for-13. She just sneaks up on you.”

Behind Bray’s seven goal performance, Rowan rebounded from a 14-10 loss to Salisbury University last Thursday with a 17-6 win on Saturday against Stevens Institute of Technology.

“After that loss we knew it was kind of an eye opener,” Bray said. “We knew what we had to do for Stevens. We knew we had to fight still and I think it was overall a good team win.”

The Brown and Gold used the momentum from the second half of the Salisbury game, when they closed an eight goal deficit to four, to jump out to an early 5-2 lead over Stevens.

“We started out the Salisbury game very poorly,” Delaney said. “Not that we played great in the first half against Stevens either, but we didn’t lose the lead.”

The pressure Bray felt in the beginning of the season has since disappeared.

Her contributions aren’t limited to what you see on the scoreboard either. Delaney said she draws defenders, creating opportunities for her teammates.

She also occupies a leadership role on the team as a captain along with seniors Taylor Gretz and Liz Kramer. Delaney is very happy with the example they set for the team through their hard work and approach.

The Profs are in the middle of a four-game home stand, which Delaney doesn’t necessarily think is a good thing.

“I don’t know [if that helps them],” Delaney said. “They like bus rides because they get to commit to each other and be together so it’s a little different.”

The season is young and, according to Delaney, once the team has time to bond, they’ll undoubtedly clean up some things she thinks they need to improve upon like shot placement, finishing and communication on one-on-one defensive plays.

The team finishes the home stand in unfamiliar territory, taking on St. Mary’s College of Maryland at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.

Bray has never seen St. Mary’s in her three-plus years on the team but knows the team is up to the task and Delaney is planning on bringing the best version of her squad to the table.

“I am preparing our team to be better than the other day,” Delaney said. “Right now, we haven’t gone over a scout of St. Mary’s because I don’t think we’re hitting all of our marks yet. So we’re really focusing on the things we need to fix right now and be better than we were in the game the other day.”

After Wednesday’s game, Rowan heads to Florida next week where they’ll see Clarkson University March 20 and Denison University March 22 before coming back to play Neumann University in Aston, Pennsylvania on March 27.

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